What terrible suffering

DEC 12 -

Living inside a cosy compartment, I had a very mild definition of human misery and suffering. But one day, I encountered a heart penetrating situation which changed my perspective of the definition of human misery. For the first time, I felt that my troubles were just superficial. When I saw that pitiful situation with my own eyes, my idea of human misery scattered on the ground like shattered glass.

I had never thought that human suffering could appear in such a terrifying form. I saw a mother, who was from a very low background of Nepali society and suffering from asthma, lying on the side of the road. I couldn’t get the idea whether she was conscious or not. There was a dead child lying nearby, covered with flies. Perhaps the mother was unconscious, so she was unaware of her child’s condition.

The woman was lying on the ground, so the first thing was to bring her back to consciousness. As I saw the pathetic situation of the woman, all of a sudden my legs started trembling. I felt as if I was paralysed and couldn’t take a step forward to help her. Finally, I gathered up my courage and stepped forward to help her. Her face was pale, and she looked as if she hadn’t eaten anything for a week.

When she was brought back to consciousness, her first words were, “Save my child. He is the only means of my life.” She took the dead child on her lap and began to lament. One of the women said that the child was dead, but the mother was not ready to accept the reality. She went on crying like a mad woman. She herself was a patient of asthma, so it was essential to send her to a hospital.

Though the condition was pitiful, people were taking it as a common incident. Looking at the impassive people, I came to realise that the world is always indifferent towards the

suffering of human beings. How can the gods, who are identified with love and sympathy, keep their eyes closed at such a miserable condition of a mother?

One of the women and me tried to persuade a taxi to take the woman to a hospital, but no one paid any attention to our request. Finally, the woman was sent to a hospital. The situation helped me to find out the real state of modern people. I was very disappointed at the people’s loss of spiritual values. They are totally coloured with notions of materialism with no values of help and sympathy.

After looking at the situation with my own eyes, I marked myself at the level of stupidity.

My miseries were nothing compared to the miseries of the woman. I came to realise how crucial a child is to the mother. I also came to understand the cruel laws of nature which bring suffering to human beings.